Peter Sinn Nachtrieb's latest play, Bob, will be part of the 35th anniversary Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville in early 2011.

Bob will receive its world premiere during the Festival in the 633-seat Pamela Brown Auditorium and will be directed by Actors Theatre's associate artistic director Sean Daniels.

The 2011 Humana Festival — the major American festival devoted to new works — will run Feb. 27-April 17, 2011. The festival has introduced more than 400 plays over the past 34 years.

Artistic director Marc Masterson's July 12 announcement of the title is a rare early peek at the winter festival. The festival lineup is usually announced in November or December. The full slate will be announced this fall.

Masterson said in a statement, "Each year we seek to present a collection of stories that reflect the diversity of the human experience. Peter's body of work is starting to make a significant presence on the American stage and I am excited to introduce his latest play to audiences at this year's Humana Festival."

Nachtrieb returns to Actors Theatre following his contribution to Brink! (Humana 2009), a new-play collaboration among six playwrights, including Lydia R. Diamond, Kristoffer Diaz, Greg Kotis, Deborah Zoe Laufer and Deborah Stein. The work explored "rites of passage and rituals." Nachtrieb performed and wrote as part of a sketch comedy group Killing My Lobster. "His easy humor and smart one-liners are very much evident in Bob, which is littered with colorful characters and outrageously fantastical situations," according to ATL notes. "Further evident are his astute observations of everyday life and ability to tackle more serious themes with a darkly comedic wit. Bob is a five-act epic which traces the highly unusual life of Bob from birth in the bathroom of a White Castle Restaurant in Louisville, KY, to a rags-to-riches-to-fall-to-legacy-to-the-love-of-living-life tale."

The play is described by the playwright as "a side-splitting social satire that roasts the American dream, and celebrates its detritus."

Nachtrieb said in a statement, "I am so thrilled that Actors Theatre will premiere Bob at the Humana Festival. The first moments of the play were sparked by my walk to rehearsals in Louisville while working there in 2009. Creatively, I have found Actors Theatre's community of artists and professionals, with whom I've worked and whose work I've gotten to witness at Humana, to be a truly exciting and diverse collection of theatrical thinkers. The energy I felt there really inspired and challenged me to try to write a play that thought big. Actors Theatre is the perfect home to birth Bob."

The playwright, whose boom has been produced around the country, holds degrees in theatre and biology from Brown University, Rhode Island and is a graduate of San Francisco State's playwriting program. Was a recipient of the ACTA/Steinberg new Play Award (Hunter Gatherers); Emerging Playwright Award from SF's Playground Theatre (Self Help); Emerging Playwright Award from the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (TIC). Is currently writing a play Litter, about dodecatuplets, commissioned by A.C.T. for the 2011 MFA class there.

Bob was originally commissioned by South Coast Repertory.

For more information about Actors Theatre of Louisville, visit www.actorstheatre.org.